Archive for Early Ultrasound Gender Determination

There’s a newer test available for early health screening of your baby and it also can tell you the gender of the baby you are carrying as early as 10 weeks.

The MaterniT21 PLUS test, developed and validated by Sequenom CMM, is a laboratory-developed test (LDT) that analyzes circulating cell-free DNA extracted from a maternal blood sample. The test detects the relative amount of 21, 18, 13 and Y chromosomal material.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Free circulating DNA is contained within the mother’s blood. The source of DNA is thought to be from placental cells through the breakdown of fetal cells in circulation. The test only looks for the presence of the Y chromosome and chromosomes 21, 18 and 13 so the test is not as comprehensive as a CVS or amnio.

HAS THIS TEST BEEN CLINICALLY VERIFIED?

Yes, it has. The performance characteristics of the MaterniT21 PLUS test have been determined in a large clinical validation study with 4,664 pregnant women at increased risk for fetal chromosomal aneuploidies. This study was independently designed and analyzed by Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (WIHRI), part of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

If you are lucky enough to get a NT scan done between 12 and 14 weeks, you can get a peek at your baby’s gender! Depending on your sonographer, he/she might say that they cannot tell you the gender of your baby at your first scan. This is, perhaps, because they aren’t aware of ‘the nub theory’.

I had a scan at 13 weeks with my last child and was told with 99% accuracy that my baby was a boy and that was confirmed at a 16 week gender scan!

The nub theory is basically about ‘the angle of the dangle’. Between 11 and 14 weeks’ gestation both genders have a penis-like protuberance between the legs. They look incredibly similar at this point, except for the angle at which they are pointing. Sometimes there are males and females at this stage which are in the ‘grey area’, but essentially a boy’s ‘dangle’ is 30 degrees up relative to the backbone and a girl’s is below 30 degrees.

In order to be able to have any chance of predicting the gender, the fetus must not be curled up- they need to be lying as flat as possible and if they are upside-down, the nub theory is not accurate. You are looking for a profile view of the entire body. Between the umbilical cord and the tail that is disappearing, there is a genital tubercle- a “nub”- that is visible if you look for it.

So, get your NT scan pictures out and start looking! OR, you may post them on our ultrasound board and let the members guess the gender of your baby for you!

If you get your scan at 11 weeks, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the genders. A scan at 12 weeks is around 75% accurate and at 13 weeks it’s closer to 95% accurate.

When you go in for your scan, ask your sonographer to get a shot exactly like one of the ones above- the fetus looking like it is laying on its back, not curled up and a good shot of the ‘nub’.

Can you guess the gender of the baby in this article? It’s a………………………………………BOY!

Post your early pic in our Ultrasound Gender Prediction forum and let us guess for you!